Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection, The - Various Artists

Advantages: Some no. 1 Hits
Disadvantages: You have to be a fan to appreciate

...I found this one on the shelf at Woolworths along with all the other stuff that goes for £5 when shops decide to have a clearance. I actually bought it out of interest to hear what was so bad on it that it was only worth £5 pound. Fortunately I was pleasantly suprised. Gold has a good collection of hits from his shows. The best ones were "Memory" from Cats and "Another Suitcase Another Hall" from Evita and Don't Cry for me Argentina. But there is a good sprinkling of other musicals including The Phantom of the Opera , Superstar, Whistle Down the Wind. All together there are a good twenty songs in the collection and pleanty of variety. The Cover title is Andrew Lloyd Webber Gold The definitive Hits Collection. There is an extremely explanitive cover insert and introuduction which introduces the album as a collection of all 20 of his... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Loads of music for your money, wide variety
Disadvantages: I've not seen all the shows

...Simply the Songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber is a box set of four CDs which contain fifty-five songs from fourteen different musicals. You should expect plenty of variety then. Lloyd Webber has written a huge number of musicals on a variety of topics. He's written some based on religion (Jesus Christ Superstar), some about historical figures (Evita) and some that are just collections of songs (Cats). If you like musicals, the chances are you will have seen some by him. If you don't like musicals, you're probably not going to go out and buy these CDs whatever I say about them. Some Lloyd Webber songs are fairly predictable. They follow a standard pattern of verses, so you can see the rhymes coming a mile off. Others are well-constructed, beautiful pieces of music. Since this box set is a 'best of' with such a large number... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Interesting, beautifull, well written
Disadvantages: Bad choice of soloists

...The Requiem, written shotly after his fathers death, is the only piece in this genre that Andrew Lloyd Webber has written. It is a relatively short piece, only 45 minutes long (NOT as the CD discription says, 1h 45min!!), written for chamber orchestra, organ, SATB choir and tenor, soprano and treble soloists. It uses the well known texts of the Requiem mass. I find the music beautifull in a haunting way. The music os mainly classical, but bears a modern touch, which is refreshing. The music is reasonably easy to sing for a choral singer, which makes it an attractive piece for choirs. This recording uses a boy choir and the soloist Placido Domingo (tenor), Sarah Brightman (soprano) and Paul Miles-Kingston. To me, the soloist are the weakest part of the recording. Placido Domingos voice is to heavy to manage the fast Hosanna, Sara... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful